We work hard to show you up-to-date product terms, however, this information does not originate from us and thus, we do not guarantee its accuracy. Before submitting an application, always verify all terms and conditions with the offering institution. Please let us know if you notice any differences.

† Approval Odds are WalletHub estimates intended to gauge your likelihood of approval for a particular product. Approval Odds are based on WalletHub data and are not provided or endorsed by the lender. Approval Odds are not meant to imply or guarantee that you will be approved by the lender or that credit will be extended.

Ad Disclosure: Certain offers that appear on this site originate from paying advertisers, and this will be noted on an offer’s details page using the designation "Sponsored", where applicable. Advertising may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). At WalletHub we try to present a wide array of offers, but our offers do not represent all financial services companies or products.

You likely have fair credit if you opened your first credit card less than three years ago or you’ve made some financial mistakes in the past. Whatever the case, you’re sure to find an offer that meets your needs among the following credit cards for people with fair credit (some of which are from WalletHub partners). These fair-credit credit cards provide convenience, allowing you to carry less cash and make purchases that require plastic, such as car rentals and online shopping. Many offer valuable perks, including rewards and 0% financing. And most importantly, any of them will help youimprove your credit score. You just have to pay your monthly bills on time and avoid maxing out your spending limit.If you’re not sure where your credit stands, you cancheck your latest credit score for free on WalletHub. And if you’d like a credit card recommendation, make sure to check out our editors’ picks for the best credit cards for fair credit, below.…show moreshow less

Best for members rebuilding or establishing credit. It's a real credit card — not a debit or prepaid card.

Determine your own credit limit ($250 to $5,000) with an interest-earning CD.

Retail and Travel Benefits: Collision damage waiver coverage pays for physical damage and theft to most rental vehicles.Identity theft resolutions services provides assistance should you become the victim of identity theft.Extended warranty extends your manufacturers or U.S. store brand warranties for up to one year.Travel accident insurance provides coverage for you and your family members when your card is used to purchase common carrier travel tickets.

Security: Chip card technology has added security when used at a chip-enabled terminal and greater acceptance worldwide.You are not liable for unauthorized purchases. Get account balances and transaction history by sending a text message.Access your account on usaa.com or from a mobile device.

Special Benefits for Military: Get 4% APR on all balances for up to 12 months during deployment or PCS. After 12 months, the regular APR of between 10.90% and 20.90% will apply. This rate will vary with the market based on the prime rate. Special 4% SCRA rate: When you have a balance on your account at the time you enter active military duty, get 4% APR on that existing balance until one year after you complete active duty.

What are the best credit cards for fair credit?

By: John Kiernan, Credit Card EditorThe best credit cards for fair credit charge very low annual fees (often $0) and are available to people with credit scores from 620 to 659. Many also offer modest rewards or a 0% introductory APR, with the former being best for people who always pay their monthly bills in full.

With these guidelines in mind, our editors compared hundreds of offers for each of the most common consumer needs. And without further ado, here are their picks for the year’s best credit cards for people with fair credit.

*We recommend paying your monthly credit card bills in full when you have fair credit, as you’re unlikely to qualify for a 0% introductory interest rate (if you’re not a student) and even the lowest regular APRs available to you will be quite costly. Furthermore, the USAA Rate Advantage Platinum Visa® is only available to applicants who meet USAA’s eligibility requirements, including current and former military personnel as well as certain family members.

If you prefer not to simply pick from our editors’ recommended cards, you can use the following pointers to find the best fair-credit credit card for your needs.

How To Find The Best Credit Cards for Fair Credit

Double-check your credit score. There is a fine line between “fair” credit and “good” credit. In fact, only 40 credit-score points separates the two tiers (fair credit means a credit score of 620 to 659, while good credit is 660 to 719). So if you haven’t checked your credit score in a while, make sure to do so before applying. You might be able to get a better card than you think.

Decide between rewards and 0% rates. Making this decision early will help make your search more manageable, by cutting your options in half, in addition to helping you get better terms. No single credit card has the best rewards and the best rates, which means you shouldn’t try to use one for both everyday purchases and carrying a balance. Instead, get a rewards card for everyday expenses that you can pay in full within a billing period, a card offering 0% on purchases for big-ticket spending or a 0% balance transfer card for reducing the cost of existing debt. And if you have more than one need, you can get multiple cards and use the Island Approach.

Avoid fees. Annual fees are the most prominent type of fee to watch out for, but they’re not alone. For example, you might need to consider one-time fees for application processing or transferring a balance, depending on what type of card you’re looking for and how you plan to use it. Your goal should be to minimize the fees that are likely to apply to your usage habits and ignore those that aren’t.

Crunch the numbers. Try to put everything into dollar terms. For rewards cards, that means applying each card’s earnings rates to your actual spending habits in order to determine how much you’re likely to earn over your expected usage timeframe. For 0% cards, it means seeing what monthly debt payments you can comfortably afford to make, how large of a balance you will therefore have remaining at the end of each card’s 0% intro term, and what interest charges you would incur thereafter.

Prepare for an upgrade. Credit scores can fluctuate by 100 points in a single month, so graduating to a higher credit level doesn’t have to take too long. And that’s great news, considering the best credit card deals require good or excellent credit for approval. So pay your bill on time every month, don’t max out your spending limit and track your credit score’s progress over time to see when you’re ready for an upgrade.

Finally, if you want to make things really easy, just sign up for a free WalletHub account. We’ll give you a personalized credit card recommendation based on your latest credit score and financial priorities.

How can I build my credit with a fair credit credit card?

By: John Kiernan, Credit Card Editor

Building credit is pretty much the same no matter what your credit score is or which particular credit card you happen to be using. The card’s issuer will report information about your account to the three major credit bureaus each month (usually when your monthly statement becomes available). If you pay your bill on time each month and avoid maxing out your credit limit, this information will be positive. And as your credit reports fill up with positive information, your credit score will rise.

You don’t even need to make purchases with your credit card to build credit. As long as you pay any annual or monthly fees your card may charge, you can simply lock it in a drawer and enjoy the benefits of an account classified as being in good standing.

How long until I can upgrade from a credit card for fair credit?

By: Odysseas Papadimitriou, WalletHub CEO

The length of time it will take you to graduate from fair credit to good credit, and thus qualify for a better credit card, depends on the contents of your credit report and how responsibly you manage your finances moving forward. For example, someone without much credit history could go from fair to good credit in just a few months by adding a bit of positive information to his or her credit reports. Yet it could take years for someone who is working his or her way back from severely damaged credit.

Regardless of your starting point, you can track your credit-improvement progress for free on WalletHub – the only site with free credit scores and reports that are updated on a daily basis. You will also receive customized credit-building tips as well as personalized credit-card recommendations whenever you’re eligible for a better offer.

How high are the limits for fair credit credit cards?

By: John Kiernan, Credit Card Editor

Credit cards for people with fair credit tend to have fairly low credit limits – they are low-- usually somewhere between $300 and $2,000. That’s because most people with fair credit have relatively short credit histories and/or red flags on their credit reports. Without a long track record of responsible use, issuers generally won’t feel comfortable lending you significant sums of money, since they won’t have much of an indication about how you’ll handle such spending power.

With that being said, if you need a higher spending limit in order to put a particular purchase on plastic, a secured card is always an option. Secured cards require you to place a refundable security deposit, the amount of which typically serves as your spending limit. So you can increase your limit simply by adding to your deposit. You can find the best secured card for your needs right here.

Are there any decent rewards cards for people with fair credit?

By: Odysseas Papadimitriou, WalletHub CEO

While some credit cards for people with fair credit do offer rewards, rewards should not be your focus at this point in your credit career. Your main objective should be to find a credit card with no annual fee that you can get approved for.

Once you’ve narrowed down your options, you can use rewards or low interest rates as the tiebreaker for the remaining offers. Rewards are best for people who pay their monthly credit card bills in full, while a low rate will likely offer more savings to those who foresee carrying a balance from month to month.

I have fair credit; should I consider secured credit cards?

By: Odysseas Papadimitriou, WalletHub CEO

Absolutely. A secured credit card is a great option for anyone with fair, limited or bad credit, especially if you’ve already been rejected for an unsecured card. Secured cards tend to be the easiest credit cards to get because they require a refundable security deposit that typically doubles as your spending limit. This prevents overspending, protects the issuer from risk and allows for a relatively inexpensive fee structure. The fact that you can add to your deposit over time may also help you build credit faster, as having more credit available and a lower credit utilization ratio is beneficial to credit improvement.

Finally, and most importantly, anyone who looks at your credit report (e.g. a credit card company, mortgage broker, car dealership or landlord) won’t be able to tell whether you have an unsecured credit card or a secured card. You can learn more about how secured credit cards work as well as the pros and cons of getting one from WalletHub’s secured card guide.

Ask the Experts

Fair credit can feel a bit like borrower purgatory, as neither the heavenly perks associated with credit cards for people with good and excellent credit nor the devilishly high costs that accompany many credit cards for bad credit are available. But there;s still value to be had from fair-credit credit cards, and you don't have to stay in this particular creditworthiness tier for long. With that in mind, we asked a panel of experts for insights into the best way to navigate fair credit now and escape it later. You can check out the panel's bios and responses below.

What are the most important things to look for in a fair-credit credit card?

Why don't more banks and credit unions offer credit cards to people with fair credit?

Does each credit card company define "fair" credit the same way?

When you have fair credit, is it better to get a credit card with an annual fee or one that requires a refundable security deposit?

Do any issuers have a particularly good/bad reputation for offering decent fair-credit credit cards?

Eric MoscatoClinical Lecturer in Finance and Director of Accreditation and Standards Master at Iona College
Read More

Terence J. PitreDirector of MsA Program and Associate Professor in the College of Business Administration at California State University - Sacramento
Read More

Stephen CalkinsProfessor of Law at Wayne State University
Read More

Robert W. McLeodProfessor of Finance and Bickley Faculty Fellow in Finance and Insurance Department of Economics, Finance and Legal Studies at The University of Alabama
Read More

Irina A. TelyukovaVice President of Predictive Modeling and Forecasting at Intensity Corporation Read More

Walter P. SmithAssociate Professor in the School of Accountancy at Auburn University at Montgomery
Read More

Community Discussion

Ask a question or help others by sharing some tips.

@julianszaccaro

June 24, 2017

I cannot find comenity bank's phone number to call and ask them for another credit card for wayfair furniture company

How is it I can buy a $25,000 Z71 on credit but can't get a little 2 or 3 hundred dollar unsecured credit card?

·

@WalletHub

November 14, 2016

That’s a good question, and the simplest answer is that approval standards vary by lender. So what a particular auto loan company might be comfortable lending could be quite different from what a certain credit card issuer will extend. It could also be that your credit standing changed between the time you bought your car and when you applied for your credit card.

We recommend double-checking your current credit score ( https://wallethub.com/free-credit-score/ ) to see exactly where you stand and to identify what might be holding you back. If your credit is damaged for one reason or another, a secured credit card with no annual fee will be the cheapest way to rebuild your standing. That might not be what you want to hear, but there’s no reason to overpay for an unsecured card if you don’t absolutely need an emergency loan.…read more

@WalletHub

February 16, 2016

@Tammy Shoffner Johnson: Of course! Our top advice is to open a secured credit card in order to begin devaluing the negative information in your credit report. Secured cards are good because they can be free to use and they prevent you from overspending. That’s because they require a refundable security deposit that will usually double as your spending limit.

The best two options are the Capital One and Harley-Davidson secured cards because they do not charge annual fees. You can learn more about them here: https://wallethub.com/best-credit-cards-for-bad-credit/ . In addition, you may want to check WalletHub and get your free credit score and track your improvement over time. WalletHub is the only website that updates its scores and reports on a daily basis, and its 24/7 credit monitoring feature will let you know anytime there is an important change to your credit report.…read more

I have the Capital One Platinum Credit Card. I chose this card because I have a thin credit history and there is a 0% annual fee. It is a great card if you haven't had a card before or are looking for a way to build your credit. It is simple to apply and the card came quickly in the mail. I started with a limit of $300 but after paying off the card every month it was raised to $500. I also had a great customer service experience when I called Capital One because I was over charged for an online purchase. They promptly reversed the fee without issue. I will be using this card for many years!…read more

I choose my Visa credit card because it was the only one I was able to get. I did not have the best credit so it was hard to get a credit card. My bank informed me if I paid off one debt that they would be able to issue me a card then. So, I went ahead and paid it off and they issued me one. This card has helped me build my credit. I am not ready for another one, but I am glad I was approved for this. The interest is not too high, which helps me a lot.…read more

I've not used a credit card that specifically requires "fair" credit, but looking at the selection offered here, I would be most likely to choose the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. Judging by the rewards that are available (as well as the low interest rate, compared to other cards in this list) and the relatively modest annual fee of $39, it would seem that this would be a useful card to use to raise a lagging credit rating. By having this card and using it for small-to-midsize purchases ($100 and lower), a person with credit issues could definitely help their situation.…read more

I have the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard and it's a nice card to have. I like having a Discover, Visa, and Mastercard in case whatever place I'm at doesn't accept one or the other for some reason. The best thing about this card is the lack of annual fee. There are very few circumstances in which I would pay an annual fee for any credit card, and you should be equally discerning. It just doesn't make sense. The rewards program is nice to have but I feel that they are very slow to rack up compared to other cards I own. Still, it's good to be getting something back from using the card. The complimentary credit score is a cool feature they've added recently. It sends you alerts and everything to your email.…read more

I had some problems with my credit a few years ago, and I found it difficult to qualify for several programs. I eventually was able to sign up for a credit card that allowed fair credit. The company was Capital One, and I was able to gradually improve my credit score over a period of time by using the card and paying the charges on time. The Capital One card has given me a real opportunity to rebuild my credit.…read more

After graduating college I realized that I needed to start building my credit. I received an offer in the mail to apply for the Capital One Platinum card and I was approved but with a very low limit. I used the card for all of my purchases, having to pay the bill several times a month to stay under my limit, and after about 6 months I was given a pretty substantial credit limit increase. It helped improve my credit score fairly quickly and then I was able to qualify for a few better cards so that I could start earning rewards. If you don't think you can qualify for a great card right now, apply for one of the no frills cards then after responsible use you should be able to qualify for the card you want.…read more

After taking some time to build my credit back up to respectful standards after some young and irresponsible spending during my college years, I was able to get a normal card that didn't require any special deposit or hoops to jump through and that was the Capital One® Platinum Credit Card. I really enjoy not having an annual fee and I was able to transfer another (albeit small) balance to it from another card without a fee as well. This was a big relief since the card it came from had an absurd APR% and I was able to save some money this way. It's an all around great card and I am glad to have it.…read more

I have used a credit card that requires fair credit, and even excellent credit, to help raise my credit. It is important to build credit to show companies that you can responsibly pay off your debt (at least that is the hope) as well as improve your credit score. I know by increasing my credit, the temptation was there to spend more money, but I told myself that I had to reel it in and make sure that just because I had more credit to use, I should not necessarily do so. Higher credit is especially important though when you’re looking to purchase big ticket items. It is also great to have rewards credit cards for big ticket items because then you can earn more cash back, airfare miles, travel rewards, etc.…read more

I have used a credit card that requires fair credit to help raise my credit. It is what helped me buy my house. A big "thank you" to Capital One for being such a great company. I couldn't have done it without you.

So I had what can be described as average credit and I always wanted to know how to raise it but never knew how. So I was looking online and found my solution and it was in the form of Capital One Platinum Credit Card. I have had this card for over 2 years now, and let me tell you its a great way to boost your average credit as long as you follow the rules and pay on time. Some of the great things about this card besides being a credit builder is, start with no annual fee for the first year; $19 after that, get access to a higher credit line after making your first 5 monthly payments on time, and last is my favorite perk fraud coverage. Those are some of the reasons I like this card the only negative I could say is its a bit higher on APR, but that 's because its used to build credit. All in all I would say thanks to Capital One for making such a great credit builder and getting me on track.…read more

·

We work hard to show you up-to-date product terms, however, this information does not originate from us and thus, we do not guarantee its accuracy. Before submitting an application, always verify all terms and conditions with the offering institution. Please let us know if you notice any differences.

† Approval Odds are WalletHub estimates intended to gauge your likelihood of approval for a particular product. Approval Odds are based on WalletHub data and are not provided or endorsed by the lender. Approval Odds are not meant to imply or guarantee that you will be approved by the lender or that credit will be extended.

Ad Disclosure: Certain offers that appear on this site originate from paying advertisers, and this will be noted on an offer’s details page using the designation "Sponsored", where applicable. Advertising may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). At WalletHub we try to present a wide array of offers, but our offers do not represent all financial services companies or products.